The Bounce NewsletterR | This is The Athletics daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce straight to your inbox.

LeBron James (39 years and 319 days) is the oldest player in NBA history with three consecutive triple-doubles. He beat the record of someone named LeBron James, who was 34 years and 310 days old when he did it.

Wemby is 50

Victor Wembanyama makes history again

I didn’t love how Victor Wembanyama started his second season in the NBA. The Spurs phenomenon wasn’t bad; his stats were actually pretty good. He’s had some ridiculous highs. But Wemby’s energy was inconsistent. We can probably conclude that this is the longest season of his young professional career, along with an Olympic summer that allowed him to compete most of the offseason.

But lately? Wemby is on fire and that led to him completely deconstructing the Wizards last night. Wemby became the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game (20 years, 314 days). Only Brandon Jennings, LeBron James, and Devin Booker did it younger (note: today’s newsletter recognizes LeBron as both the youngest and oldest to accomplish two different feats). It was the second fastest 50-point match in history, in terms of time on the pitch, with Wemby doing it in 26 minutes. Klay Thompson once broke the 50 mark in about 24-25 minutes. Wemby did it in a very Splash Frère way:

• Wembanyama enjoyed 18 of 29 shooting from the field and 8 of 16 from three-point range.
• He has been on fire from deep in the past three games. After making just 22.6 percent of his three-pointers in the first nine games, Wemby went 20-for-37 (54 percent) in his last three games.

I will remind you that Wemby is 7ft tall but now stands at 7ft 3in after standing at 7ft 4in a year ago. He also had six rebounds and three blocks in 32 minutes of action. He had 42 points through the first three quarters, and the Wizards made it a close game in the fourth before ultimately losing 139-130.

Wemby’s previous high was 40 points against the Knicks in late March. He also had twenty rebounds and seven assists. Wemby’s 50-point game was much milder, if that’s even a statistical thing. This season he already had a 5×5 (25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and five blocks), an almost triple-double (24 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks) and this 50-citizen. Over Wemby’s last three games, he averaged 36 points, 12 rebounds and 4.3 blocks while shooting 59 percent from the field, 54 percent from three and 76.9 percent from the line. Moral of the story? Don’t let Wemby warm up.

The last 24

Popovich away from the sidelines indefinitely

🙏 Gregg Popovich, 75, suffered a mild stroke on November 2. He is expected to make a full recovery, but a timeline for his return as coach has not yet been set, the Spurs (6-6) announced. Get well soon, Dad.

☀️ Bradley Beal is having fun. The Suns (9-3) guard is playing very good basketball. Fred Katz has more.

🤔 Bronny James plans to play only home games. He won’t be traveling for G League games. This is the first time I find this Bronny situation weird. More here.

📺 The only game tonight. Mavericks (5-6) at Jazz (14-20), 9:00 PM ET on NBA TV or Fubo. Seriously, this is the only game tonight, so watch Luka Dončić light up the Jazz!

📚 Kevin Garnett comes 12th! KG embodied everything that is team basketball during his historic career. Look at “The Basketball 100” for more.

About last night

Giannis dropped 59 to outlast the Pistons

Wemby wasn’t the only one to drop 50 last night! Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped nearly 60 points in a 127-120 overtime win against the Pistons. The Bucks also needed all of his 59 points, and he almost failed to crack 50. Remember when the Pistons beat the Heat on Tuesday night on a last-second lob play that frustrated Erik Spoelstra so much he called a timeout he didn’t have? It almost happened again.

The Pistons ran the play for rookie Ron Holland, and Antetokounmpo tried to break it up at the rim. The Bucks star was called for a foul, it was reviewed and looked clean, and then the officials confirmed the foul. Because of course they did. The Netherlands had a chance to close with a free throw with one second left on the clock and no timeouts for the Bucks. He missed them both. Antetokounmpo entered overtime with 48 points and helped close out a win by scoring 11 in overtime. The Bucks were without Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton, so they really needed Giannis’ 59 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals.

Bulls 124 (5-7), Knicks 123 (5-6): Karl-Anthony Towns almost joined Wemby and Giannis that evening. KAT had 46 points on 18 of 30 shooting from the field, but that wasn’t enough. Zach LaVine had 31 points for the Bulls, and they all survived a game-winning attempt by Jalen Brunson, who sank a mid-range jumper at midfield and knocked it out at the buzzer.

Cavs 114 (13-0), 76ers 106 (2-9): No Joel Embiid. No Paul Georg. No Tyrese Maxey. And the 76ers nearly ended the Cavaliers’ perfect start. They survived 34 points and 10 assists from TikTok star Jared McCain as the Cavs became the fifth team in NBA history to win their first 13 games of the season.

Thunder 106 (10-2), Pelicans 88 (3-9): Jalen Williams had 31, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 29 and the Thunder defense smothered the Pelicans MASH unit all night. OKC scored 29 points off 24 Pelicans turnovers. Yes!

Magic 94 (7-6), Pacers 90 (5-6): After losing four in a row following Paolo Banchero’s injury, the Magic have now won four in a row. They shut down the Pacers offense and Franz Wagner had 29 points to bring Orlando back into the tie.

Kings 127 (7-5), Suns 104 (9-3): No Kevin Durant. No Bradley Beal. No mercy from the kings. De’Aaron Fox lit up the Suns for 29 points and 10 assists. Despite DeMar DeRozan missing the second half with back tightness, the Kings defeated Phoenix 70-48.

Blazers 106 (5-8), Wolves 98 (6-6): The Wolves have to leave Portland. The Blazers defeated them for the second straight night, this time behind 33 points from Shaedon Sharpe and 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks from rookie Donovan Clingan. Anthony Edwards had 24 points on 25 shots and was 0 of 9 from deep. More on the Blazers below.

Rockets 111 (8-4), Clippers 103 (6-6): The Rockets finally found a way to cool off Norm Powell, and Houston had six different players in double figures. Alperen Şengün finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.

Lakers 128 (7-4), Grizzlies 123 (7-5): Just that measly 35-point, 14-assist, 12-rebound game from LeBron James as the Lakers got a little revenge on the Grizzlies. No Ja Morant or Desmond Bane in this one, but the Lakers didn’t care. Rookie Dalton Knecht had 19 off the bench.

Celtics 139 (10-3), Nets 114 (5-7): The Celtics hit 22 three-pointers and Jayson Tatum’s 36 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds blew the Nets all game. Boston is now 7-1 on the road to start the season. Imagine the defending champs going home and feeling comfortable.

Stat Dat 🤯

Being destroyed outside the gates

We saw the Trail Blazers shock the world on Tuesday night. No, it wasn’t that they won – by double digits – against the Timberwolves. It seemed unexpected, but apparently they own the Wolves. This Glen Taylor refereeing against Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore should be up for debate. Maybe we should expect the unexpected when it comes to group play in the NBA Cup! The ‘shock the world’ moment came in the form of the Blazers in the first and third quarters of the game. Those were the worst of times for the 4-8 Blazers.

It was only the third time the Blazers won a first quarter this season and also the third time they won the third quarter this season. It was the second time they won both quarters in the same match. Normally the Blazers get destroyed in those neighborhoods. Even after winning the first quarter 28-17 and the third quarter 33-21 against Minnesota, Portland is still terrible in both quarters. How bad is it, you ask? I’m glad you want to know.

The Blazers are being outscored by 18.0 points per 100 possessions in the first quarter, the last in the league. In the third quarter, they are outscored by 30.2 points per 100 possessions. Thirty point two! That’s absurd! It’s the second-worst third-quarter net score in the NBA. The Blazers are entering games not yet ready to play. And then they come out of the rest even worse. I wonder if they just watch “Requiem for a Dream” at halftime or something.

What’s even crazier is that the Utah Jazz are actually worse. They rank 29th in the first quarter with a net rating of minus 16.9 and 30th with a net rating of minus 31.6 in the third quarter. The Blazers are -48.2 per 100 possessions in those two quarters combined. The Jazz are -48.5 per 100 possessions. It’s possible that Chauncey Billups and Will Hardy will just have to do Al Pacino impressions for the rest of the season.

📫 Do you like The Bounce? Also check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Top photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images )